Drug Enforcement Administration

Brothers Sentenced For Methamphetamine Trafficking

ROME, Ga. - Felix Moreno-Garcia and Fabian Pineda-Garcia have been sentenced for possessing over four pounds of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.

Daniel R. Salter, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division stated, “These methamphetamine distributors were driven by greed and power. Today they stand powerless and will spend well-deserved time in prison. This case would not have been possible without the high level of cooperation between our law enforcement counterparts.”

“These brothers were significant contributors to the Northwest Georgia methamphetamine market,” said Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn. “Thankfully, DEA agents and the Lookout Mountain Drug Task Force successfully put an end to this family drug dealing business.”

According to Acting United States Attorney Horn, the charges, and other information presented in court: In July 2012, the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task (“Lookout Mountain Task Force”) initiated an investigation of a Mexican drug trafficking organization operating out of Chattooga County, Georgia. The Lookout Mountain Task Force developed an informant who provided information regarding Fabian Pineda-Garcia’s narcotics trafficking.

In August 2012, the DEA joined the investigation focusing on Fabian Pineda-Garcia’s brother, Felix Moreno-Garcia. Agents conducted a series of controlled purchases before successfully introducing an undercover officer to Moreno-Garcia in November 2013. Moreno-Garcia sold the undercover officer multi-ounce quantities of methamphetamine on several occasions. On March 19, 2014, Moreno-Garcia sold the undercover officer eight ounces of methamphetamine in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart in Trion, Georgia. Immediately after the sale, officers arrested Moreno-Garcia before he could leave the parking lot. Later that evening, agents executed search warrants at four locations, including a residence in Trion, Georgia. There, law enforcement officers discovered three and a half pounds of methamphetamine hidden under a mattress in a bedroom. Agents also located a 12-gauge shotgun in the corner of the bedroom. Agents arrested Fabian Pineda-Garcia and an unindicted coconspirator at the residence.

Both Moreno-Garcia and Pineda-Garcia were convicted of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine upon their pleas of guilty on November 19, 2014.

Felix Moreno-Garcia, 33, of Trion, Georgia, was sentenced to 15 years, four months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Fabian Pineda-Garcia, 34, also of Trion, Georgia, was sentenced to ten years, one month in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Both were sentenced by United States District Judge Harold L. Murphy.